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In the Apache httpd project's "support/apxs.in" script, a text surrounded with @ signs comes after #!. That is, the first line of the script is:
#!@perlbin@ -w
Is this a Perl thing or a UNIX kernel thing? In other words, it it possible to execute this script using path/to/script/script_name.in?
If not, then what is the reason to start the script with a #!?
This looks like a placeholder in an GNU Automake template which is going to be filled in by a configure script. So it's neither a Perl or Unix kernel thing, but a GNU autotools thing.
It is probably from a file in a source distribution, not from a file that was installed on the system through make install or a package manager.
Alternatively, it's from a broken build with GNU autotools that never defined perlbin properly.
That the file has a .in suffix confirms that it is supposed to be processed by configure.
No, you can not execute this file as it is. The placeholder will be replaced with the proper path to the perl executable when you run configure.
.infiles (i.e. templates)@is fine in filenames so if you have an executable called@perlbin@which accepts the-woption and is able to interpret the contents of that file, then yes you can run that file.